Judge who helped airman during Red Scare era has died

MACOMB TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan lawyer who represented an Air Force reservist during the Red Scare era of the 1950s has died. He was 92.

A son says Kenneth Sanborn died of heart failure Tuesday.

Sanborn was a Macomb County judge for more than 40 years. As a lawyer, he represented Milo Radulovich, who was removed from the Air Force because family members were accused of being communist sympathizers.

The decision was ultimately reversed. The case was widely publicized on the CBS show “See It Now,” with Edward R. Murrow.

Sanborn knew Radulovich from college. In 2006, he said, “I could never live with myself if I didn’t help Milo.”

Macomb County Judge James Biernat Jr. tells The Macomb Daily that Sanborn “was willing to do the right thing,” even if risky.